( CHAPTER 4 )
❛ mission success ❜
_____
THE BID HAD began, and Liz's heart was thumping against her ribcage harshly as she stood beside Sully, waiting for Nate to shut down the power. She could see near the stage Sam standing idly by in a waiter's outfit, often sneaking glances at Liz.
Guys...you there? Nate said in their earpieces. Liz's fingers tapped anxiously on her arm as she crossed them, wanting to get out of here as soon as possible.
"God damn it kid, where the hell've you been?" Sully replied.
I made it. Had a few close calls but-
"It would be a good time to cut the power right now, we're cutting it close!" Liz whispered back.
All right well, I'm gonna need a minute before I can reach the panel.
"We don't have a minute, Rafe's about to walk out of here with your cross," Sully warned.
Wait...what? Rafe? Rafe is here?
"Did you not hear my fun little chit chat with him?" Liz asked, shuddering at the memory.
Yes, Rafe is here, and as of right now, he has the highest bid, Sam added on.
Well, outbid him.
"With what?" Sully interjected, "I don't have that kind of scratch."
Sully, we're stealing, remember?
"What if he calls my bluff?"
"He's right, Sully, we gotta take our chances," Liz stated, glancing beside her to him.
The auctioneer asked for anymore bids, making Liz's breathing even more sporadic.
Guys, if we do no get this cross, I am as good as dead, Sam stated.
Liz glared at Sully. He turned to her. She didn't need to say anything for him to understand her. Aside from Nate, Sam probably meant the most to Liz.
He took a deep sigh before nodding to her, raising his number.
"Bene! We have one hundred thousand euros in the room," the auctioneer announced, making Liz let out a sigh of relief.
Her relaxed state didn't last long, as Rafe decided to bid against him. She avoided Rafe's glance her and Sully's way.
Sully raised his number again, and it seemed to go back and forth for eternity before Nate spoke up. All right guys, I'm at the switch. You ready?
As I'll ever be. Liz? Sam asked.
"Same here. Sully?" She replied, glancing to her left again.
"Just a sec..." he mumbled before Rafe bid against him one last time, and Sully finally backed down.
"Had me worried there for a minute, Victor. Thought I might have to kill you!" Rafe said towards them. The crowd chuckled, and Liz forced a fake smile on her face, grinding her teeth at his foul words.
"Okay, let's ruin this asshole's evening," Sully finally said.
"Anyone else?"
Silence.
"We are going once...going twice...then I shall sell it for five hundred thousand-"
The lady was cut off by the room filling with darkness. Liz had already began moving. Even in the darkness she saw Sam's figure rushing towards the stage, walking alongside her towards the door. Once they found it, he swung it open, ushering hr through, Sully trailing behind.
Sam nudged her lightly, and Liz couldn't help but give him a grin.
"Not too rough after 15 years, I see. Though...you did make a little bit of noise...I swear I saw your trip in the dark-"
"Oh hush, Elizabeth," he mumbled, shaking his head.
"Gladly, Samuel."
She watched him crack a smile from the corner of her vision.
Sam, tell me you got the cross, Nate asked frantically.
They turned a corner, trying to find their way to the getaway car. "I got Saint Dismas right here, you wanna say hi?"
Yeah, we really kicked the hornet's nest down here. Ballroom's locked down, security's scrambling, Sully said, having gone a different pathway than them.
"Yeah we gotta be careful down h-"
She made a soft yelp as she was pulled back behind a wall, seeing security down the hall she was just about to pass. Glancing behind her, she gave a thankful nod to Sam, whose arm was still around her waist.
He dropped it once she noticed it. "Hey, where's our getaway?" He whispered.
Come to the driveway out front, just follow the spotlights. I'll bring the car around.
Liz peeked down the hall, about to make her way across before watching Sam take another route. "Hey, where are you going?"
"You go ahead to the parking lot, that way's much quicker," he whispered back, pointing up at the vents. "I gotta make sure Nate's okay."
Liz's face scrunched up in disgust. "Seriously?"
"Seriously."
Liz glared at him for a few moments before giving in, letting him boost her up.
"Watch out," she called behind her, pushing her heels off her feet, letting out an exhale of relief.
"Good luck," she heard him say, and with that, he was off, leaving her to crawl through the vents, letting her take a shortcut outside.
Once she finally dropped outside of the building and near the parking lot, she practically wanted to rip her dress off by now; at least it was quite flowy. As she was about to make her way on foot, a white car rolled up in front of her.
"Hop in," Sully said as he rolled his window down, and she was quick to get inside.
"All right I got the car, where the hell are you guys?" Sully spoke into the earpiece.
Nate sounded like he was out of breath. Just met your friend Nadine Ross. She's lovely.
"Yeah, well it's total chaos out here. They're trying to keep it contained, but everybody's freaking out. I don't wanna rush you but...hurry the hell up!"
It was quite true, Sully was making odd and quick turns, avoiding any security and trying to find a way into the parking lot. There was quite some commotion on the other lines, coming from Nate and Sam. Liz wanted to try and ask if they were all right, but she didn't wanna distract them.
Sully slammed on the brakes, making Liz jolt forward, bracing herself against the car seat. "All right boys, change of plan! Too many people trying to leave, the driveway's all jammed up."
Shit. What's our backup? Sam asked.
The two thought for a moment before an idea popped into her mind. "There's a fountain right outside the ballroom. We can meet you there!"
"All right, let's go," Sully announced, turning the car around and trying to make it to the ballroom.
As they finally pulled up, Liz's heart thumped loudly at all the new guards that had appeared, shooting at Sam and Nate near the entrance.
"You got anything for me?" Liz asked, tightening her tied up hair.
"Just a sec..." Sully answered before the car thudded against something. As he slammed on the brake, she realized it wasn't something, but someone.
"Well, I guess that's one way to do it," Liz said while opening her door, reaching down to the unconscious body of one of the guards and taking their gun. She almost wished it was a sniper rifle, but she couldn't be picky, so she was stuck with the AK-47.
"We're here guys!" Liz announced, shutting her door and rolling down her window. Her hands steadied around the gun, as she shut one eye, aiming at the guards who were hiding behind pillars. Luckily for her, they were hiding from the brothers' side, so they were right in her range.
She pulled the trigger, taking down the ones closest to her. A few took notice, as she quickly ducked down, ears ringing at the sharp noise of bullets ringing through the air.
"Haven't heard that in 12 years!" She yelled, hearing Sully chuckle in the front seat. She took aim again, watching out for the guards aiming at the brothers.
They soon began running over, as she tucked the gun away, ushering them inside. She scooted to the side, letting them slide through beside her.
"Go, go, go!" Sam yelled, as gunshots hit their car and the glass windows, making Liz duck down. She was about to cover her head, but Sam's body was already shielding over hers, as Sully sped away. Once gunfire slowly faded away, the three in the backseat sat up, Liz brushing shards of glass off her arms.
Sam's eyes darted all across her body, his arm still around her torso. "Are you hurt?"
Liz ignored the fact that their relationship was in a strange place at the moment, and shook her head. "I'm alright. I should be the one worried. You boys okay?"
Both nodded, and Sam retracted his arm, leaving the three in comfortable silence on the way back.
_____
Nathan was quite skeptical of Sam's new girlfriend when he suddenly introduced her and brought her along on one of their hunts. They'd gotten a possible clue towards Avery's cross, the key item in the steps to finding the treasure, and suddenly Sam had booked a second plane ticket.
It wasn't like Nathan didn't like Liz, she seemed intelligent and ready for the job, and Sam had his fair share of flings over the years, but nothing this serious. It was quite surprising to him when he got the phone call explaining how they'd been dating for a few months now after continuous one night stands where they seemed to find a connection.
So when Liz had stepped aside to glance at all the work laid out on Nathan's hotel table, he finally felt like asking Sam the real questions.
"Does she know what she's getting into?" Nate asked, crossing his arms and glancing over at the curious Liz who was tuned out of their whispered conversation.
Sam's eyebrows furrowed as he leaned against the wall. "What d'you mean? Course she's prepared, I showed her how to shoot a gun, great aim by the way, shoulda' seen her at darts-"
"I'm serious, Sam!" Nate said a little too loudly, going back to hushed tones after making sure Liz wasn't listening. "I mean...she's never done this before, she's just a girl who wants to travel."
Sam glared at him, crossing his own arms. "She's not just any girl Nate," he said, gesturing towards her. "She's...she's really somethin' else. Look, I wouldn't be doin' this if I wasn't sure about it. Trust me, she'll be great."
Nate squinted his eyes at him, wondering if he was saying this because he truly liked this woman and trusted her, or he just loved to be in bed with her. "Fine, but you're in charge of her."
"Duly noted."
Nate was about to steer the conversation somewhere else before noticing Liz moving around the pieces of paper on the table, the ones he'd laid out specifically because he was close to cracking it.
Nate rushed over, wondering why she was messing around with them. "Hey hey hey, what are you..."
His voice trailed off as he realized she wasn't messing around with the papers, she was figuring them out. Sam pushed himself off the wall, studying the way Liz bit her lip in concentration, moving the papers with the strange markings around in different orders.
Her eyes seemed to glint for a moment. "Light."
"Huh?" Nate asked.
"Light, someone turn on this lamp," she requested, eyes not straying from the papers in her hands. Nate obliged, switching on the lamp that hung over the desk. Instead of trying to place them beside each other on the table like Nate had done, she began stacking the pieces of paper, switching them every so often with a small shake of her head when she made the wrong move.
Finally she placed the stack under the lamp, showing one smooth drawing of the entrance to the place they were trying to get past, the place where the cross could be.
Nate's mouth hung open, not sure how to process what she did, before she placed the stack on the table, turning with a small smile and a shrug. "I like puzzles."
Nate was still utterly confused, but Sam had a proud grin. Liz let out a light sigh, oblivious to Nate's shocked reaction. "Well, I'm gonna have a shower. It was nice meeting you Nate!" She then gave him a little pat on the shoulder. "You're welcome, by the way."
And with that, she was out the door, heading into her and Sam's room.
Sam strolled up beside Nathan, patting him on the back. "I really didn't wanna have to say it, but...I told you so." Sam then followed Liz's footsteps out the door, presumably to join Liz.
Maybe she wouldn't be so much of a burden after all.
A few days later and they'd found themselves at the stone temple where the cross was supposed to be hidden behind a stone wall, that same wall that Liz had cracked the code for.
The three strolled up, Liz falling a bit behind from not being used to the amount of walking they did from the car to here, but of course it was worth it, as she marvelled at the size and beauty of the structure in the side of the mountain.
"Impressive, huh?" Sam asked, nudging Liz's size.
Liz's lips parted slightly, eyes scanning the wall from a fair distance, they still had to climb down the cliff they were on. She glanced towards him, a smile spreading across her face. "It's amazing."
Sam nodded in agreement, about to head forward before she grabbed ahold of his wrist lightly, Sam turning around to see what she wanted. It took her a moment to find the right words. "Can I just say...travelling with you, I really love it."
Sam's eyes lit up, a smirk forming on his lips. "Me too."
"Yeah?"
"Yeah."
Sam found this the perfect time to kiss her, as his eyes kept glancing towards her lips, but before he could close the distance Nate had called out to them in a hushed yell, meaning there was trouble.
They leaned over the cliff, looking down at the base of the wall where multiple men were walking around, seeming like they were trying to figure out how to open the wall as well.
"Shit, okay..." Sam thought, his heart racing suddenly at the thought of Liz having to probably face off with these guys when she had never killed or hurt someone in her life. His eyes then glanced to two tall towers at the base of the cliff, a fair bit away from the wall.
"Okay, Nate and I are gonna try and reason with these guys, maybe we can get 'em out of here somehow. Liz...follow me when we get down there," Sam proposed. Liz looked at him confused, but nodded nonetheless.
All three quietly made their way down, crouching in some tall grass. Sam then lead Liz into one of the stone towers, and all the way up to where there was a lookout.
Sam crouched below the wall, Liz doing the same, as he pulled something out of his bag. It was a sniper rifle.
"Okay...remember when I told you that what we do is sometimes dangerous?" Sam asked, still holding the rifle in his hands.
Liz nodded. "Yeah, with all the ancient traps and stuff."
"Well...yeah, but that's not the only dangerous part of it. Sometimes...if people get in our way, if they...try to hurt us, we have to resort to defending ourselves." He then placed the rifle in her hands, and Liz seemed to understand what he was saying. She realized what all the gun training meant.
"Oh..." she breathed out, the hands holding the long weapon shaking lightly. Sam saw this, and placed his hands over hers gently, her shaking slowing down.
"Ww may not need to resort to guns, but if they don't reason with us...if they pull guns on us, which they very well might do...we need your help. You're at a great vantage point."
Liz gulped, realizing that he was asking her to freaking kill people. But she did sign up for this, and she would definitely protect Sam and Nathan if they got in any sort of trouble.
"Okay," she managed out, nodding her head, still trying to convince herself that she could do this. Sam gave her a once over, nodded in agreement and left the tower. Liz's breaths became jagged, but she breathed in and out slowly, trying to calm herself for what was to come.
Sam and Nathan had appeared from the grass, hands up, attempting to reason with the men who had their guns out.
"You really think we're gonna let you take our treasure? We don't work with strangers." One of the men began to raise his gun higher, aimed in between Sam's eyes, but before Sam could act a shot rang through the air, and when they looked up the man had fallen to the ground.
The other men looked around confused before a gunfight ensued. Both Sam and Nate took cover, glancing up at the tower to see a concentrating Liz with one eye closed and the rifle through the lookout window.
They were used to this sort of gunfight, but they had an advantage when the men they were fighting would be taken down first by a sharpshooter in a tower (thank god she was good at darts).
The men began screaming at each other all while taking cover themselves, wondering where the shooting was coming from. There must had been 3 men left from Liz and the Drake brothers' guns when Sam sat behind his cover, breathing heavily while shots rang above his head. He took a glance up at the tower, seeing Liz smile down at him. He returned the smile.
Her figure was suddenly forced to the ground, and Sam's smile quickly wiped from his face. One of the men must had gotten to the tower. Sam quickly turned to his brother, who had just ducked back down behind his cover.
"Take care of these guys, Liz needs help!" He yelled before crawling through the tall grass, avoiding the shots ringing through the air. His heart beat rapidly in his chest, sweat forming on his forehead. He did this. He should have protected her. She was probably dead by now. She never deserved this. This was his fault.
He finally made it to the last step, where he saw Liz kick the man in the gut, still on the ground, and Sam tried to ignore her bloodied face for the time being.
Before the man could make it back towards Liz, Sam sprinted towards him, knocking him down to the ground, ensuing in a fist fight. He had him pinned down finally, throwing punch after punch, all while Liz began coughing up blood through her strained throat, doubled over.
"Sam..." she mustered out hoarsely, and Sam had stopped his swinging, realizing he had done enough. He turned, watching her lean back against the stone wall, letting out heaving jagged breaths.
He immediately slid off the man and crawled towards her, cupping her face in his hands while surveying the damage. She was okay. No, she was hurt. He must have busted her nose as it was bleeding, as well as her lip which was slightly swollen and bloodied.
She practically read his mind as she watched him frantically survey her body. "Did I pass?"
A small chuckle escaped his lips, even in the situation. He nodded, which turned into a shake of his head. "Don't ever scare me like that again," he said into her hair as he leaned forward and held her in his arms.
"Wouldn't dream of it, love."
Love. He let out an airy laugh in her hair at the nickname, holding her close as he looked over the window and saw that Nathan had gotten the last of the men and began attempting to open the stone wall.
He wanted to go down and help him, but he couldn't let go of her, not just yet.
_____
Liz was finally able to rip that dress off as she exited the bathroom, a loose long t-shirt and leggings on instead.
The three men were at a round table in the hotel room, Sam glancing behind him at Liz for a moment before she joined them and sat down beside him and across from Nate. The beautiful, old cross sat in the middle of the table.
"Okay," Sam begun, grabbing the cross and raising his hammer before he stopped momentarily. "I hope I don't go to hell for this."
Liz cracked an airy chuckle before he threw down the hammer, smashing open the bottom of the cross. Liz watched his face, as his smile slowly faded.
"Shit..." Sam breathed, making Liz even more afraid now.
"What?" Nate asked.
"It's empty."
"What?" Nate and Liz yelled at the same time. But as soon as she glanced back up at him, she knew what he was pulling. Sam shook out the contents of the cross, revealing dust and a roll of parchment.
"You're such an asshole," Nate commented. Liz slapped Sam's arm, earning a playful glare from the laughing man.
"All right, skulls and crossbones. Very good sign," Sully commented. Liz nodded in agreement, waiting in anticipation for the parchment to be unrolled
"That's Avery's insignia..." Sam explained before unrolling it. Strange symbols and written words were presented. "What is this?" She could make out two swords, a skull and a cross. "Hodie mecum eris in Paradiso."
"Today you will join me in Paradise," Nate and Liz translated at the same time, Sam trailing behind the translation.
Sam was quite taken aback by Liz's sudden knowledge of foreign languages, but pushed it aside for now. "It's what Jesus said to Saint Dismas on the Cross, but..."
"What are these numbers here?" Liz wondered, tapping her finger on the parchment.
"Some kind of code?" Sully guessed. "Or a phone number."
Nate scoffed. "C'mon. They're dates."
All three stared at him in confusion.
"Look. 1659."
"That's the year Avery was born," Sam stated.
"1699."
"I'm guessing that's the year he died?" Liz questioned aloud.
"By most accounts yeah," Sam replied, "but that means we have date of birth, date of death and 'Paradise', which means we're looking for Avery's grave."
Nate leaned back on his chair. "At Saint Dismas' Cathedral."
Nate then began explaining how the symbols on the parchment are found on old Scottish gravestones. Even though Rafe had been scouring the cathedral, this whole time he forgot about the graveyard, quite a distance away from the cathedral.
"Rafe's been looking in the wrong place," Liz scoffed.
"Exactly," Nate replied.
"Guys, we're going to Scotland."
Liz bit her lip, realizing her trip would be taking far longer than usual. Even Sully felt the same way.
"All right, wait up," he began, "you do realize that Rafe knows you're coming?"
"Yeah, we can deal with that when we get there," Nate answered.
Sam glanced over at Liz who shrugged her shoulders. "I mean, I guess we gotta do it. But Sully's right. He'd probably want nothing more than for us to show up."
"Plus he's got Nadine and her whole army to back him up!" Sully added on.
"Yeah but he doesn't have this," Nate said, gesturing towards the paper in his hands. "The biggest pirate treasure of all time is within our grasp!"
"I thought this was about saving Sam," Sully questioned.
Even Liz agreed. She avoided eye contact, fiddling with her thumbs as she realized Nate was getting sucked back into the hunt for the treasure.
That was never her intention, and it would never be.
"But c'mon it's both right?" Nate continued. "We need the treasure so we can save Sam."
"How is Elena cool with all this?" Sully asked. She hadn't ever met Elena before, but Nate talked about her fondly. Maybe after all this she'd get to know her.
Liz looked up to see Nate awkwardly glance to his shoes. "Oh, Jesus kid." Sully mumbled. He was lying to her. So maybe she wouldn't meet her after all...
"Look, it's just not that simple."
Sam glanced between Liz and Nate. "Things have changed. Rafe's involved now, and...I can take this on my own. Really."
Liz shook her head, pushing herself from the table and standing up. "You got me into this mess and I'm not coming out till I know you're alive and safe. I need some air."
Just a few more weeks...she thought to herself as she stood out on the terrace, looking out at all the stars. Something about the sky that night reminded her of the first times she watched the stars with Sam.
Polaris stood high in sky, reminding her she wasn't alone, and Sadie was under the same sky. But so was Sam, and that would be hard for her to still comprehend after all these years looking up at the sky, wishing he was there to see it with her.
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oof this was a long one. sorry for not updating sooner, i was just in a writing funk for this fic! hope ur enjoying it so far :)
i rly like writing for past and present sam x liz cause theyre such different people between those 20 years.
thanks for reading!!!